Fate Is Never Kind
by Brigadier-Erin-Lightning
Summary: MODEL Jae must find inspiration for her painting in two weeks, and Michael is slowly discovering feelings for her. But will time run out for the two? Songfiction for Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young


_**Fate Is Never Kind  
A songfiction by Erin Lightning** _

_(Author's Note: Taking place right after Book 5) _

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**"Helplessly hoping, her harlequin hovers nearby"  
**Jae's hand ran almost casually over the canvas, still just as clean and smooth as the day that she had come here. Her heart was not in the painting, not anymore. At first she had been sidetracked, now she had been entirely derailed. But he wanted something, and she knew she would have to start somewhere.

"The canvas still lies empty, and I'm running out of time," she muttered to herself, pacing the dark room, still as luxurious and elegant as it had always been. Her hand clasped a paintbrush, which dripped a tiny drop of deep red paint on the floor. "What am I to draw? What is it I have to paint? An angel, perhaps, with devilish eyes? or an elegant devil, with an angel's face? Is it a savage beast that he expects; one that would render a human witless before it, and then devour the life of it's victim cruelly?" She paused, and shook her head. "Or a beautiful royal, in a flowing robe, with cold eyes, and the look of the ageless?" She sighed, and paused now. "What does he expect of me? What is it he wants?"

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, she was being watched not by one vampire, but by two. From the darkness beside the curtains that were draped down over the window, Micheal kept a wary, amused eye on her. And from above, Ken sat on one of the ledges aroud the cieling, looking down.

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**"Awaiting a word"**

Both vampires had the single thought, almost simultaneous, "What she paints, what her true feelings are...they will decide it all."

For it was the truth: if she depicted the master of the house as a cruel being, in a slashing, pained way on the canvas, then Ken would make his move. He would take her from this house, and from Michael, and she would be his. But if it was an angelic, godly creature she drew, and she put her entire heart, kindly, into the work...it would be Michael that would win this bout. But, was that all it was? A simple bout between enemies?

Ken glanced to where Michael was, just in time to see the other vampire smirk, almost cruelly, and dissapear from the room. Ken followed suit, not long after. He had someone to see.

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**"Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit"**

"Stop pretending," purred a voice from the darkness of the hallway outside of Jae's room. Michael paused in his casual strolling; his attempt to make it look like he was just checking up on things. Not letting himself drop his mask, he turned his head in the same casual way.

"Pretending? Says he who hides his true intentions, pretending himself to be nothing more then a spirit, isn't that true?" The vampire's eyes landed on Adrian Dubon; who's guise was that of the short, blonde-haired young man, exactly the form of what Michael himself had once been. Michael couldn't help but offer up a sort of smirk.

Adrian strode from the darkness, his cruel look replaced by a soft smile. Michael forced his body not to tense, as the idea that the other was up to something came to mind. As the man's arms slowly wrapped around Michael's frail body, the vampire could do nothing but force himself not to glare.

"Ah, Michael, my intentions might not be clear, but you wear yours right on your face. You long to do something more with that girl, but you want to hold yourself back. Giving in would mean, to you, that Eva was nothing but a plaything. So you play your game.." Adrian fondled Michael for a moment, his hands trailing from the vampire's waist, up to his shoulders, and embracing him still, practically hissing in his ear, "Instead of ruling over this home like you could run it all as if it were clockwork, try joining the living in your domain..Or do you want to rot away?" As an afterthought, he hissed, "You would at least leave a beautiful corpse, then, wouldn't you?"

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**"He runs, wishing he could fly"**

"Damn him to hell!" Ken's fist slammed on the table, hard, causing the vase that laid as a centerpiece, to shake, and nearly tip over. Eva moved, in one fluid, unemotional motion to catch it, and replace it. Ken's voice rose sharply, and his teeth gritted. He growled, "He wants me to suffer, doesn't he? That's why he brought her here! That's why he dangles her in front of my face like some sort of trophy...but if he doesn't pull her away from me, she herself does it!" He bent over, his elbow resting on the table, his head resting on the palm of his hand.

Eva looked over at him, then continued dusting. In her cold way, she said, "It's not true. He merely wanted you to know what humans are like."

Ken was silent, but a moment, then he snarled, "You're lying, Eva. You know it."

"I have no say in these matters, and you know that. I will not defy the master of this house, even if he sees me now as nothing more then an over-used doll," she paused, then started to dust the next window over.

Ken smirked, darkly. "You hate him too, don't you? You just don't want to admit it."

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**"Only to trip at the sound of goodbye"**

This time, Eva stopped and looked over at Ken. "I do not hate him. It's not possible for me to. Even after all he's done, I don't entirely hate him. "And you shouldn't either."

Ken snorted. "Well I do. And one of these days, my bats will taste his blood. I'm going to torment him...I'm going to win his little game..." He stopped, hearing footsteps in the hallway behind him.

Eva turned back to her work, without any other words, except, "You should be going now, Ken."

Ken's hand slammed on the table as he got up to leave, and the vase finally tipped over, fell, shattered. He thundered from the room, giving the coldest glare imaginable to Michael as they passed each other. Michael didn't even seem to acknowledge Ken's presence.

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**"Worldlessly watching, he waits by the window"**

Michael hadn't moved for quite some time now, and Eva hadn't complained. It was his way. The rain outside was coming down harder now; a fact that no one else had probably noticed, because of the fact that all the windows in the house were closed, all the curtains drawn, except for these. And his cold eyes flashed with thought.

Eva had tidied the mess caused by the broken vase, and had readied to leave the room, when a few cold words came to her.

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**"And wonders at the empty place inside"**

"The freesia are in bloom," Michael observed. "Such a radiance in this rain...I long to capture its essence on a canvas, but it would be wrong to take an earthly majesty and contort it with otherworldly skill and material. The paints of a mortal, if I were one, I would use to keep this beauty eternally." He paused here, and the silence was almost audible.

Eva said nothing, but she cast a glance at the freesia outside. Michael was right; as always, they were beautiful in the rain.

"However, Eva, as you know, innocence is not eternal," One eyes rolled back to cast a glance at her, and she was compelled to lower her gaze to the ground. He frowned, turned, and started to leave the room.

"Please, Michael," she said, slowly, "That girl..."

"Call me Master, Eva. I will take care of it."

"Yes, Master."

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**"Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams"**

'It's just like before...just like before...' Jae thought, as she watched the drenched figure across the room come to her bedside, late in the night, as she was supposed to be sleeping. But he seemed apprehensive, this time. His cold, intense eyes were locked on hers, and this time, he came to her and seated himself next to her.

"Michael.."

"Your time is running out," he said, his voice deep, and almost menacing. "Did you ever stop to think about what happens if you don't finish the portrait in time?"

"No. And it's not time for that. Besides, you'll rpobably kill me, won't you? After all, it's nothing to someone like you," she whispered back, in the darkness of the room.

His eyes seemed to widen for a moment: she had suprised him again, she could tell. But then, came the ecstacy of that soft, yet empty kiss. Oh, yes, he could fool her body into believing that this very kiss was heaven in itself. But it wasn't. His heart knew better. His feelings; he had none.

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**"He worries; did he hear a goodbye?"**

'I will finish, and then leave, nothing more, Michael,' she thought. But apparantly, this was the wrong thing. His body moved away from hers, and he was sitting there beside her again, thoughtful. The emotion in his eyes was impossible to read, and yet, it angered her.

"What do you want then?" she asked. "You want me to stay, and yet, you won't let yourself stay! You're always hiding your feelings from me, Michael...and you don't even care-"

His finger came down to hush her. It landed lightly on her lips, and was followed by that hot, lucious kiss of his.

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**"Or even hello?"**

And his body came down now, pressing against her, quieting her. In his mind, he heard Adrian taunting him:.

"You don't even know what you want anymore, do you Michael? At first you were content, but then you threw a wrench in your own gears. Fate isn't kind Michael. And you're giving into it."

'I don't want you to leave,' he thought, as he pulled her in deeper, kissing her harder, embracing her tighter. His long hair cascaded down his shoulders, and as he pulled her in for another kiss, he felt a soft gasp escape her lips. 'I want you...but I am too used to the way things are...this is only...'

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**"They are one person  
They are two alone  
They are three together  
They are for each other"

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**"Stand by the stairway"**

He stood by the stairway that night; all night. His body was unmoving, a cold statue in the rain, standing by the stairway that led up from the courtyard into the mansion. He cared not if anyone saw him there, and, as the next morning came, and the rain with it, he still remained. The only company he kept was the singing of a solitary Nightingale, and the glory of the freesia in bloom.

'What do I want?' he thought, looking across the courtyard. 'I want her near me, and yet...' He lowered his head a little. 'Eva has grown older, and I have lost my interest in her, as I knew I once would. But what pain would I cause her, again, to keep Jae? I don't really need either of them. Then again, I would giveJae to Ken to keep her near to me...but I would never be able to keep myself from wanting her...'

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**"You'll hear something certain to tell you"**

"Michael?" came the voice from above. Jae's voice. He looked up with vicious eyes; eyes that said, clearly, he wanted to be left alone. In an instant, he had vanished once more.

He reappeared in the Mausoleum, and yet he refused to move any farther then the main threshold. His body strained to hear, and, yes, he could hear the voice lost in the rain, yelling for him.

"Michael! Michael! Where did you go!" Jae yelled, looking for him.

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**"Confusion has its cost"**

Finally, after quite some time of yelling, he heard her voice getting weaker, as she cried out, pained, "If you don't show yourself, I'll die of pneumonia! I'm not moving until you show yourself, and you know that I mean what I say! I've done it before, and I'll do it again. I just.." she was speaking quieter now, "I want to know...I have to know...why do you keep coming to me if you don't want me? Why...why do you torture me..?"

He didn't move. He was frowning, deeply, from behind the door. What a waste of human blood, though, if she were to die. Ah, but he didn't want to confront her. he could only keep up the charade for so long before she discovered it...before she found that he didn't know why he kept her here.

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**"Love isn't lying; it's loose in a lady"**

He stood before her now, his robes trailing in the mud, as he had made his way across the grounds to where she sat in the rain. His eyes widened, taking her in now. She was disheveled; her hair soaking wet and hanging in her eyes, her clothes (blue jeans and an old shirt) were covered in mud, and she knelt in said mud, not even looking up at him. She probably didn't even notice he was there until he spoke.

"Why are you on the ground? Get up. It's pathetic, don't you think? Are you giving up now? Do you see that you have thrown yourself in too far?" He knelt beside her, and with all the cold in his eyes, he said, "I can kill you now. You can end it all with just two words." His hand cupped her face in it, and his face was inches from her neck. He spoke slowly, elegantly.

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**"Who lingers, saying she is lost"**

There were just a few tears in her eyes now; but they had nothing to do with fear. He couldn't remember the last time he saw her cry. had she ever? He didn't show this suprise in his eyes. Instead, he murmured, "Give up."

"Why...why won't you say it...why do you push me away?"

"Love is useless to a vampire," he said. "Eva warned you, didn't she? That you'll get hurt if you stay too long here. And you've stayed long enough. Give in quietly to death, and no one will suffer anymore."

"Do you...do you suffer too, Michael?' she whispered, and the question caught him off-guard. As she asked this, her beautiful, dark eyes opened, and they looked at him, but she did not move from his grasp. There was true concern in those eyes. And it pained Michael, for the first time in so long. It pained him that he could not control this one thing here.

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**"And choking on hello"**

"Yes," he whispered, so softly, as his teeth moved, sinking into her neck, and beginning to draw her life from her. This time he would not play the fool; he would kill her. This time, he wouldn't leave her barely alive. He was going to take her entire life; whether the portrait was finished or not.

She coughed softly, and gave the tiniest involuntary cry, and his arms had to be wrapped around her to steady her. Unlike before, in her home, she was not afraid now. It seemed, instead, that she was merely saddened. She had accomplished nothing, and she would die here.

She choked, trying desperately to find the words to say to him, trying to spit out the one sentence that she had to say, "My eyes...they...they don't falter...now...do they...when..." she coughed, hard, and it racked her entire body. "when...I say..."

"...I love you..."

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**"They are one person"**

"JAE!" cried Ken, running towards the door, desperate to get to her in time. When she had said she had something to do, he hadn't counted on it being getting herself killed. Oh, if only he had wings to fly to her side. If only...he could get there in time!

Now, as he saw their bodies melded together in the rain, in the mud, and he saw that bastard's teeth embedded in her soft flesh, Ken knew his time was running out.

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**"They are two alone"**

That's why he snarled angrily, and made as if to strike his own mother as she stepped in his way. Her eyes were cold, and she looked as if she wouldn't budge for the world.

"EVA!"

"No, Ken. Don't get in the way. It was supposed to happen this way, and it's the way our Master has chosen. Forget about her. Forget."

"Eva, get out of the way! There's still time!"

"No. Face it, Ken. Fate isn't kind. If that's the way it was meant to be...then.."

But his eyes were caught on something else now. through the great windows, he saw it...he saw that fatal movement that Michael made; taking his teeth from Jae's fragile neck, and laying her down in the mud. And Ken knew his time was up.

His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. His body shook, and he sobbed. Eva made no move to comfort him: it was a lesson he had to learn on his own.

"Why...why?" he whispered, softly, slamming a fist on the ground in pure rage. "Why do I love her so much, if all she was was a trophy!"**

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**"They are three together"**

"You were lucky..." Michael whispered, softly. His eyes were closed, as he stood over Jae now. "Lucky, that I could not kill you. I might be going soft...but I'm not ready to rot yet. I have things I still must do...and so do you." His eyes opened, and he watched the faint breathing of Jae's body: so tiny, so insignificant. "If I were to kill you, i would truely be a vampire; a demon. But...I am not ready to become that yet. I am still an artist, a lover of beauty, at heart."

"One day...one day I will finally kill you. When I can hold onto this charade, this mask I wear, for no longer. But you were right," he said, lifting her into his arms ina slow, but casual movement. "Your eyes didn't falter."

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From high, high above, Adrian watched. He smirked. "Just as I thought..." he whispered, and then slowly, his form dissolved into thin air.

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**"They are for each other..."**

Jae lay, unconcious, in Michael's arms, and she could feel his warmth against her. For the first time, she thought she was utterly, truely dead. But, no, she could hear a voice somewhere in the darkness of her mind telling her that she had been spared.

And it was here, in her mind, reflecting on the warmth of the undead body that carried her, that Jae mused softly to herself, "I know now what I will paint."

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_**The End** _

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**Author's Note: **MODEL is a great series. I couldn't help but feel that it deserved this songfiction. If you don't understand it, think it over. I love leaving an ending that will make you think, and I believe I accomplsihed that. Please review, and tell me what you think. But most of all, my reviewers, tell me what you believe of the painting Jae will make, based off of what you read. I'm curious to know what you would see in the actions of Michael towards her; what you would see in the vampire himself that would be worthy of a painting. Domo arigatou, and till next time!


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